how successful can alcohol rehab be if someone does not believe in a higher power?

5 Comments

1. Fu says:

   September 8, 2010 at 11:56 am

   you dont need the twelve steps to be clean.

   my partner is a recovering alcoholic..and we are both atheist..she’s been clean for over 5 years now
2. N.S. says:

   September 8, 2010 at 12:33 pm

   Very successful. Rehab has nothing to do with a higher power. It’s about the person, and their problem. If he thinks it’s religious issues, maybe he does believe, and is in denial
3. Elissa. says:

   September 8, 2010 at 12:57 pm

   What?
   You don’t need to believe in God/any higher power to fight an addiction. In fact, NOT believing is one of the first steps to complete sanity.

   If he can do it without thinking some God is going to help him, then he’s the stronger person than the guy who thinks he can get better through God.
4. raysny says:

   September 8, 2010 at 1:45 pm

   Obviously your boyfriend is receiving 12step facilitation. This method, based on the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, is the most popular and one of the least effective.

   What Works?: 48 alcohol treatments, listed by effectiveness:
   http://www.behaviortherapy.com/whatworks.htm

   You’ll note that 12step facilitation and AA are numbers 37 & 38 out of the 48 listed.

   The key factors in beating any type of bad habit are motivation and determination, with addiction it is a bit trickier because choice and judgment are affected. Still, 80% of those who quit do so on their own with no programs or treatment.

   “There is a high rate of recovery among alcoholics and addicts, treated and untreated. According to one estimate, heroin addicts break the habit in an average of 11 years. Another estimate is that at least 50% of alcoholics eventually free themselves although only 10% are ever treated. One recent study found that 80% of all alcoholics who recover for a year or more do so on their own, some after being unsuccessfully treated. When a group of these self-treated alcoholics was interviewed, 57% said they simply decided that alcohol was bad for them. Twenty-nine percent said health problems, frightening experiences, accidents, or blackouts persuaded them to quit. Others used such phrases as “Things were building up” or “I was sick and tired of it.” Support from a husband or wife was important in sustaining the resolution.”
   Treatment of Drug Abuse and Addiction — Part III, The Harvard Mental Health Letter, October 1995.

   AA teaches people that they have a life long disease that they are powerless over (if that were true, how could anyone make the decision to quit?) and must depend on some “Higher Power” (read:God) to remove their desire to drink on a fearful day by day basis. These beliefs have seeped into the general public, they deny Free Will and self-reliance. It’s faith healing, I believe it’s criminal how much money rehabs charge to tell you that only God can help.

   I bounced in and out of rehabs for almost twenty years only managing brief periods of sobriety before I rejected AA dogma, took responsibility for my addiction and my recovery in 2001.

   The Effectiveness of the Twelve-Step Treatment
   http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html

   Out of the Habit Trap
   Five Stages to Freedom
   Update from a top addiction researcher: People who quit drug abuse, smoking and other habits do best if they do it themselves by Stanton Peele:
   http://peele.net/lib/trap.html
5. Raider says:

   September 8, 2010 at 1:48 pm

   Courtney, it has worked for me and my belief in a creator came years after my rehab and I was addicted to more than alcohol. Sober for 39 years.

   L8r